He leads me …

Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6 (AMP)

 We are all probably familiar with this verse. We realise that Jesus is the way to a loving relationship with the Father, in that we have to believe that He died for our sins, and we then ask Him to be Lord of our lives, so that we become born again Christians with the hope of everlasting life.

 We know that Jesus is the Truth because he is the Logos – the living Word of God. In John 1:1 in the New Life Version it reads that ‘the Word (Christ) was in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God.’ We can also see the link between the Word and Jesus in Revelation 19:13, 16.

 How do we know that Jesus is the life? In Colossians 3:4 in the New Living Translation it says, ‘And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.’ Over in Philippians 1:21 in the Amplified Bible it says, ‘For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity].’ We also read in 1 John 5:11-12 ‘And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life’ (NLT). We see in these scriptures that Jesus being ‘the life’ is not just about sharing Eternity with Him. It is more than that. His life has real meaning for our lives right now.

 If we look at Jesus’ words carefully we see that they are a progression. First comes the Way. He is the way for us to come into a proper relationship with Him. It is not by good works in order to earn our place in Heaven. Just as believing in any other gods will not work either. Nor will doing our best to follow the Ten Commandments, or the Sermon on the Mount in our own strength provide us with salvation. The only way is believing by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He died as a sacrifice for our sins.

 Jesus is the way. In Him, God comes to meet us, not just at the point of salvation, but in an ongoing relationship where He gets involved in even the small details of our lives. Through Jesus, we have access to God to such an extent that we can now call Him ‘Abba, Father’.

 Once we have become Christians, we learn the importance of God’s Word – the Bible. It is God’s truth. We learn from the examples of those who have been written about, as well as the direct teaching that the Bible provides. As we read about Jesus’ life, we find that He not only gives us commandments but also principles to live by.

 It may appear somewhat academic to begin with, but as we gain more practical experience as a Christian, we find that more and more of what the Bible says is true. We also find that we are living out what it says.

 We discover that in the hard times God will supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19). We learn too that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).

 As we see how we are living the same things that the Bible talks about, we learn about the final stage – that Christ is the author and giver of life - natural, spiritual, and eternal. If we let Him, by His Spirit He will use us to spread His truth, to show His way, and to show His love which then gives others life.  And the works He will accomplish through us will go beyond anything that we are personally capable of. In His hands the hungry will be fed, the sick healed, and lives changed for good.

 It is interesting that during Jesus ministry he made it clear that He did not help anyone of His own accord. He only did what the Father told him (see John 8:28; 12:49-50; 14:24,31) This is our example. If we are to see divine intervention beyond our own abilities, we should do the same with the Holy Spirit.

 After all it says in John 14:26, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (NKJV)

 How much do we want this kind of relationship? James 4:8 tells us that it is over to us to, ‘Draw near to God, and He will draw near to [us].’ (NKJV) and in Hebrews 116b we are told, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’ (NKJV).

 In 2 Peter 1:4 we read that ‘because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable [us] to share his divine nature.’ (NLT)

 By sharing His divine nature we are enabled to live a life that reflects God’s holy character. The Greek word translated "share" in this verse means to have fellowship with someone – in this case God. He has given us His promises as His consent for us to work with Him to achieve the things that He wants to do through us.

 But fellowship is more than this. The Lord wants to be part of every aspect of our life if we are open to it and let Him be there. Some of us are aware of the times when He has helped us with the right car park, or helped us when we have lost something, but our relationship with Him can go deeper than this. Like those times when we are not sure what to do, and all of a sudden we say, ‘Oh I know what I can do.’ Where did that bright idea come from? Or we might be writing an email or a text and we are struggling with a word, when suddenly the right one pops into our mind. Where did that come from?

 What about when we had a person come into our mind, followed by a Bible promise for that person? Or when we phoned someone only to hear on the other end, ‘Oh, I was just thinking about you’? Maybe there was a time when we said something to someone and they replied that another person had said the same thing to them a few days earlier. We then realise that we have provided the Lord’s confirmation for them. Or maybe there was a time when we said something so profound, that we knew that it was not part of our normal thinking. It had to be from the Lord.

 When we tune into what the Lord is doing in our lives we realise that there is whole lot happening each day that He is part of. Then we may get to the point where we thank Him for what is seen and also unseen, because we realise that He is working away in our life and the lives of those who we are praying for, bit by bit in ways that are not easily noticed. But when we look back we see how we have changed little by little for the better.

 When we start out as Christians we might think that God is going to highlight all our faults and that we are going to be hassled until we address them. In fact, it is quite the opposite. He will gently bring things to our mind that we should do or address, but it is completely over to us how we respond. Even if we get things wrong, He is gracious and gives us another chance. In fact He says that He will be gentle with us in His Word.

 In Matthew 11:28-30 we read, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”(NKJV)

 If being a Christian seems like hard work, we should press into Him and what He is doing, and we will find that our life becomes a fascinating adventure, where we wake up in the morning and say, “What are we doing today Lord?”